Battle Assault 3 featuring Gundam SEED
Battle Assault 3 featuring Gundam SEED is a 3D fighting game for the PlayStation 2. It is the sequel to Gundam Battle Assault 1 and 2. Story Cosmic Era 71. The Earth Alliance and PLANT are engaged in the First Alliance-PLANT War. Overpowered by the revolutionary Mobile Suits deployed by the PLANT's military organization, ZAFT, the Earth Alliance has built their own suits with brand new technologies. However, five ZAFT soldiers initiated a daring and brazen theft of the suits, leading to one young boy, Kira Yamato, to encounter the machine he'd call "Gundam". Gameplay Battle Assault 3 is a 3D fighting game fought on a large battleground as opposed to the preceding games' 2D gameplay. As such, characters are able to freely move around the battlefield. Interaction with the battlefield is also possible by knocking each other into obstacles such as buildings and may even pick up and throw objects at one another as well as weapons. Each Mobile Suit has three types of basic attacks - Light Attack, Strong Attack and Ranged. Because of this, beam saber attacks are no longer unblockable. Boosting/flight and ranged attacks both consume the energy gauge and quick recovery consumes it entirely. Inputting certain commands can allow for special attacks as well as devastating Super Attacks, though players only have three Super Attacks per round. They can also expend a Super Attack to activate the mobile suit's Special Ability to enhance their combat ability which can come in various forms such as ranged attack buffers or even transforming the mobile suit itself. Instead of going for three rounds, a player has a large health bar which is dependent on what the suit is - basic Mass Produced suits have a single health bar which allows them to be harmed by all weaponry; Gundam-types have two half-bars, one for Phase Shift and one for normal. The Phase Shift needs to be broken before you can deal with the Base Armor, though throws passes through it; end series Gundams have full Phase Shift and thus weaker units have a much more difficult time breaking through. Due to balancing issues with most mobile suits being equipped with beam weapons, Phase Shift has a resistance to beam shots. If one is fast enough, they can hit the Select button and initiate a button-pressing sequence called Real-time programming that can improve the mobile suit's ranged and melee capabilities. Pass this threshold, the player can then improve the machine's energy gauge and recover health through this method. Characters and Units Unlike the preceding games, Battle Assault 3's roster is wholly focused on SEED and has nearly every single mobile suit and pilot featured in the anime. Mass-produced suits however are piloted by faceless grunts. Additionally, units from Wing and G can be unlocked as hidden fighters. * GAT-X105 Strike Gundam - Pilot: Kira Yamato ** GAT-X105+AQM/E-X01 Aile Strike Gundam ** GAT-X105+AQM/E-X03 Launcher Strike Gundam ** GAT-X105+AQM/E-X02 Sword Strike Gundam * GAT-X303 Aegis Gundam - Pilot: Athrun Zala * GAT-X102 Duel Gundam - Pilot: Yzak Joule ** Duel Gundam Assault Shroud * GAT-X103 Buster Gundam - Pilot: Dearka Elsman * GAT-X207 Blitz Gundam - Pilot: Nicol Amalfi * ZGMF-1017 GINN - Pilot: ZAFT Pilot ** ZGMF-1017 GINN Miguel Aiman Custom - Pilot: Miguel Aiman * ZGMF-515 CGUE - Pilot: Rau Le Creuset * TMF/A-802 BuCUE Missile Pack/Rail Cannon - Pilot: ZAFT Pilot * TMF/A-803 LaGOWE - Pilot: Andrew Waltfeld * UMF-5 ZnO - Pilot: Marco Morassim * AMF-101 DINN - Pilot: ZAFT Pilot * ZGMF-600 GuAIZ - Pilot: ZAFT Pilot * GAT-01 Strike Dagger - Pilot: Earth Alliance Pilot * GAT-X370 Raider Gundam - Pilot: Clotho Buer * GAT-X252 Forbidden Gundam - Pilot: Shani Andras * GAT-X131 Calamity Gundam - Pilot: Orga Sabnak * MBF-M1 M1 Astray - Pilot: Mayura Labatt, Asagi Caldwell and Juri Wu Nien * MBF-02+AQM/E-X01 Aile Strike Rouge - Pilot: Cagalli Yula Athha * ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam - Pilot: Kira Yamato * ZGMF-X09A Justice Gundam - Pilot: Athrun Zala * ZGMF-X13A Providence Gundam - Pilot Rau Le Creuset * GF13-017NJII God Gundam - Pilot: Domon Kasshu * GF13-001NHII Master Gundam - Pilot: Master Asia * OZ-00MS2B Tallgeese III - Pilot: Zechs Marquise * XXXG-00W0 Wing Gundam Zero - Pilot: Heero Yuy Trivia * With the exception of Master Asia, Domon Kasshu and Zechs Marquise, none of the series' voice actors returned to voice their characters. * A game in Japan based on the anime series Shikkon Gattai GoDannar! used this game engine, though it is unknown if that game came first and it was modified into a Gundam SEED game or not. *Battle Assault 3 remains the only video game in the entire franchise to be released exclusively for North America. *This is the second localized Gundam game to feature an opening song from the source material, in this case, it is Invoke by T.M. Revolution. *Lacus Clyne does appear in the game, though she is not a playable character. *Miguel Aiman's GINN is the only MSV-based unit to show up in the game. *Interestingly, the Astrays fight with different combat styles.